Day 46: Lunch

[tostepforward]

The mere fact that she'd been susceptible to whatever hold the Institute had had on her yesterday was sufficient to leave Ayumu both upset and angry - no, not angry, downright furious, both at herself and whoever was responsible for that. But there was also the fact that because of it, she'd lost out on an entire day of work, and in several ways

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[hes_deadjim]

A weapon? In a hospital? McCoy wouldn't have seen any reason for it if it hadn't been for last night. After seeing what that thing had done to Jim, now he could believe it.

He hadn't ever seen anything like it occur naturally. Perhaps it was a native of this planet, wherever this was. This was supposedly a replica of Earth, but he'd never heard to what extent. If it was a limited area, it made sense that the native flora or fauna might start leaking in. But if whoever made this place was powerful enough to make it and yank people from all over, then McCoy couldn't see how such a power couldn't keep out animals.

That was if they weren't letting them in. McCoy generally thought the worst, and this time was no different.

So this was the Commander's source about the institute. He could begin to understand why Hayes might have gotten along with him. They appeared pretty similar: military background, same no-nonsense attitude.

"I'm afraid that's partially my fault, Sergeant. We ran into someone who needed medical attention," McCoy said. As an afterthought, as way of explanation, he added, "Hayes is my 'roommmate'."

[loyal_soldier]

"Understandable, sir. The best thing to be done here is to keep everyone alive long enough to make it out." Not that anyone had found a way yet, so a medic's skills were likely to be in high demand for quite a while.

"Ah. Well it's good that you traveled together, at least. Individuals trying to head out on their own are far more likely to meet resistance they can't handle here." Still, if they were both new, then McCoy didn't have any weapons either, so it was just double the meatshielding with nothing in the middle.

"Do you have a weapon yourself, sir? The cell block is usually safe, but if you plan on leaving that area then you're going to need some way to keep yourself defended."

[hes_deadjim]

He didn't like the sound of that. The last thing he'd expected was a medical facility that didn't have its patients' best interest in mind, and yet that was just what this was looking like. It went against everything he worked for. And while it could be all in a person's head, McCoy found it strange that the story seemed universal from everyone he'd encountered so far. A mass delusion, with similar stories, wasn't common.

As much as he didn't like it, it was probably what it looked like. There was something strange going on here. And it would start making sense with some of the disorganization and malpractice going on here, and the patients being left to roam around at night.

"No, I can't say I have."

Maybe that flashlight could work as one. It was heavier than he was comfortable with, especially in the hands of patients, but he could handle it.

"Why, are you saying they just have phasers lying around?" McCoy asked dryly. It was too much to hope, but he didn't exactly expect a hospital to have weapons all over the place either.

[loyal_soldier]

"There isn't much easily available, but you can at least get something fit to work as a blunt weapon from an equipment shed on the Rec Field," 622 said, starting to eat again. This stuff looked phenomenally unhealthy, but it tasted great.

"I can help you with that if you want, sir. Commander Hayes and I will already be heading out there to get something for him."

He stopped eating, tilting his head in confusion at the word 'phaser'. "Nothing more than primitive weapons, unfortunately. There are some people who can make weapons. If you ask for the Cooking Club over the bulletin, you can try to get an appointment set up with one of them. They're obviously in high demand.

[hes_deadjim]

The rec field? Maybe that was where they'd found Jim last night. He filed it away for later. He didn't see why TK-622 was telling him to see some Cooking Club. Cooking wasn't what he was interested in.

As tempting, and sensible, getting a weapon sounded, McCoy already had his priorities elsewhere. Last night he'd been faced with just how under-equipped he was to deal with any form of medical emergence. Know-how could only go so far before you started needed ways to actually disinfect and seal wounds. They couldn't close themselves."I appreciate the offer, but I wanted to track down medical supplies first. Any idea where I could get those?"

With any luck, he knew where he could find some hypos, dermal regenerators, something. McCoy had a general idea of where to go. Not all hospitals were the same, but you, generally, could find things in similar areas, like a pharmacy or storage area. But seeing as he'd never visited this facility until now, he didn't know the layout. It'd be much faster if he could get directions before night fell.

[loyal_soldier]

"There's a room on the second floor," 622 pulled out his journal (real paper, he still couldn't get over how weird that was), and turned to the page where he had carefully copied out the maps that had been available on the bulletin, pointing to the pharmacy. "There's also a group of medics that I've collected supplies for. You might be able to contact them over the bulletin as well, but the recent censorship might make things difficult. Hence rather odd names like 'cooking club'." But come to think of that, they'd been using that name for weeks. Weird civvies.

"They don't have anything that looked modern to me, though. Just period for whatever level of technology this is supposed to be."

[hes_deadjim]

McCoy leaned over a little to get a better view of the map, taking note of where that room was. It really all hinged on just how well-stocked it was, and he didn't think it'd just be left unlocked either, but it was a start.

"Thanks," McCoy muttered. He was still tracing a mental path from his room to that second floor room. After a moment he leaned back.

It was strange that the staff felt they could get anywhere by censoring the patients, especially if they were the very ones responsible for letting them loose at night. What was the point if all parties knew something different was going on?

"You said there's a group of medics. Are we talking Starfleet associated medics or independent?"

[loyal_soldier]

"I can make a copy of the map if you want," 622 offered. It wouldn't be brilliant, but at least he could draw straight lines.

"Unfortunately, I haven't a clue what you're talking about. I've never heard of a government that calls their navy 'Starfleet'. They aren't from the same organizations, however." Was he going to have to explain the multiple universes theory? He really didn't want to, it always made him sound like he was completely bonkers.

[hes_deadjim]

"I'd appreciate that," he replied.

Finding another person who hadn't heard of Starfleet wasn't as surprising this time around. McCoy decided it was better to let the matter drop for now. So far there were people here completely unaware that space travel was popular, followed by the opposite end of the spectrum, like Jim, Spock and Hayes. The Sargeant hadn't made it clear yet just where he fit in on that. Bad enough he'd almost violated the Prime Directive once already.

"You sound like you know the run of this place. How long have you been here?"

[loyal_soldier]

622 started copying out the map, trying to work efficiently. He wasn't exactly a cartographer, but he'd do his best.

"Nineteen days. It doesn't sound like much, but... A lot of people tend to either die or just disappear." He looked up from his notepad. "I'm glad we have another person with medical skills now, sir. This place patches people up at the end of each night, but we don't have many people to act as medics during the night."

[hes_deadjim]

The doctor was silent for a moment.

"And no one's said anything?!" McCoy exclaimed. The idea that any medical practitioner would willingly risk their patient's lives was inconceivable. It wasn't clear what TK-622 meant by "disappearing either". He would have assumed death, if the Sergeant hadn't just covered it, and that left the alternative ominously open-ended. How was this allowed to happen?

McCoy watched him continuing copying the map. "I don't doubt that," he grumbled. It certainly sounded like he was going to have plenty of work cut out for him.

[loyal_soldier]

"The staff don't acknowledge it. They just say people are 'released', but that includes the dead." His face hardened. They'd told him Armand had been 'released' too. He'd come so close to losing control.

"There are a certain number of people with military training here, as well as the organized search and rescue teams, but there are always some people that don't see sense and form up groups with little or no combat experience. I've been personally focusing on helping those people as much as I can."

[hes_deadjim]

McCoy nodded grimly. He'd want to verify this with more than one patient anyhow. The charges the Sergeant was leveling were very heavy, but if the lack of professionalism he'd seen already was anything to go by, it wouldn't be too far-fetched.

"That's very altruistic of you, Sergeant," he said absently. His mind was still focused on what TK-622 had told him about the staff. He wondered just how the Federation would deal with this facility if they came down on it ever. If there was evidence of malpractice, patient abuse and death, there would certainly be a need to intervene.

[loyal_soldier]

"It's just the right thing to do. There's no one else even from any Imperial systems here, so I just do what I can to represent the Corps as they should be," he said, however jarringly naïve it might sound. It made sense. It gave him structure. And that was important. He'd been lacking structure recently.

[hes_deadjim]

Imperial systems? Probably the organization he was from. There were plenty of star systems that they hadn't discovered. Plenty that were independent from the Federation.

"Well, I'm glad you're doing it all the same." McCoy said. "Not everyone can watch out for themselves. So someone needs to."

[loyal_soldier]

"They do." 622 finished the last few lines of the map and handed it across the table. "Is there anything else I can do to help?" It wasn't as if he had anything else he should be doing right now.